My nostrils flare when I drag in a deep breath. Amy’s pushing it. With her comments coming hot on the heels of Jep’s last night, I feel as if the rug’s been pulled out from underneath me. If no one thinks I’m tough or mature, how am I going to pull off my plan of getting Cooper and Zali away from Mom. I need my intimidation factor.
“What glaring little detail?” I spit my question at her from between grinding teeth.
“You wouldn’t be worrying about some guy you just met thinking that you’re a whore for sleeping with nine blokes.”
“Hardy fucking ha,” I fake a laugh. “You’re really annoying me today.”
Determined not to turn this into an argument, I twirl a finger in the air and quip with feigned nonchalance. “Subject change.”
“No, let’s not.” Amy drops the humor, her expression turning serious. “I’ve wanted to say this to you for a long time. I don’t care if you fuck every man you meet as long as you’re okay with it. If it’s just a way to let off some steam, then I’m all for it. But if it’s a way to prove something to your parents, then the only person who’s gonna end up hurt is you.”
Her frank words hit home and I can finally name the feeling that’s been assailing me since I laid eyes on Hooligan. He didn’t make me feel dirty, neither did Jep. It’s all on me. I’m beginning to judge myself.
“You’re right. I didn’t realize until right now but I’m kinda over picking up random men.”
My pussy twitches, reminding me that she’s lonely and not entirely on-board with my plan to give up on sex. She’d love to pick up a not-so-random man. Thoughts of bloody Hooligan and his muscled body lighting her fire at the moment.
“Well, there you go.” She laughs, thankfully oblivious to my lusty thoughts. “My work here is done.”
Rummaging around in her bag, she pulls out her phone and sighs. “Argh. I’ve gotta have Max at a birthday party in an hour. Time for me to get going.”
After yelling to Max that it’s time to go, she pulls me into a bear hug. As is my way, my body immediately stiffens. It takes me a moment before I loosen up enough to return her embrace.
“Make sure you speak to Nate about meeting with Hooligan. Doesn’t matter if you like him or not, this could be your ticket to easy street. I’ve seen you in action, girl. You’ll kick some serious ass.”
Amy’s reminder about fighting for Hooligan’s gym is timely. I’d forgotten about it, lost as I was in my moral dilemma. “I agree. It’s the perfect solution. And it’ll keep me out of trouble.”
After walking Amy and Max to the front door and waving them off, I head for the den. I don’t need to be at work until four this afternoon. Plenty of time for a nana nap before I need to get me and Cooper ready to leave.
I’m comfortable on the couch with Cooper lying on his bean bag engrossed in the DVD I’ve put on for him when Zali wanders into the room. In her hands are two huge bags.
“Hey, Gab,” she peers down at me and I see stubborn resolve in her scrutiny. Pushing myself upright, I wait for the bombshell. “Devon’s waiting in the driveway for me. I’m moving out today.”
My right leg starts to move as I bounce it in an effort not to argue with her. Going outside and belting her dumbass boyfriend isn’t going to stop her from leaving. If anything, it will make her more determined. I need to play this cool.
“You’re making the wrong choice—”
“No, I’m not,” she interrupts me. “I saw Mr. Sanderson here this morning and I can guess what was going on. Amelia’s one of my best friends. How can I tell her that her Dad is screwing my mom? I can’t live here anymore. I hate her. I’m happier when I’m with Devon. He loves me.”
“Zali, I want you to stay. For fuck sake, Devon isn’t the only guy in the world.”
“He is for me.” Dismissing my head shake with a roll of her eyes, my little sister walks over to Cooper. Putting her bags down, she squats next to him and ruffles his hair. “I love you, Coop. I’ll come and see you all the time.”
“Will you bring lollies?”
Trust Cooper to have his priorities straight.
“Of course, I will. All of your favorites.”
Nodding his head, he smiles at her before turning back to his show. “Okay. Have fun Zali.”
I follow her all the way to the front door, trying to talk some sense into her.
“I’m getting my own place when art school starts, why can’t you wait until then?”
“Gabbi, I want to be sixteen. I want to have fun; not look after my baby brother all the time and have to worry about stupid stuff like laundry and who’s cooking dinner.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. You hardly ever do that now. I do it all. Plus, who do you think is going to do all of that for you at Devon’s?”
Shrugging her shoulders, she ignores me as she walks to her boyfriend’s car. He winks at me, making my skin crawl, and then blows me a kiss when Zali is occupied with putting her bags in the backseat. It rankles and takes every ounce of self-control I possess not to give him the reaction he wants. If I get into a fight with him now, he wins. Zali will shut me out.
“Make sure you call me if you need anything.”
“I’m not going to need anything. Stop trying to be my mom,” she snaps at me as she pulls her seatbelt over her shoulder and clips it. Devon laughs so I flip him my middle finger and mouth “fuck you”.
“Okay. Okay.” I concede, trying my hardest to keep my growing anger out of my voice. “Just don’t forget, I’m always here if you need me.”
Devon throws the car into drive and screeches out of the driveway, drowning out Zali’s reply. A horrible feeling of powerlessness takes hold of me. She shouldn’t be going with him; he’s a loser. But how am I supposed to stop her? I’m just her big sister, not her parent—a fact that she delights in reminding me of constantly. I don’t have any control over her.
The two people who should be stepping up aren’t here. Mom’s still in bed while Dad is occupied with his new family. They’re off doing their own thing, leaving me to clean up the mess they created.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hooligan
“Push through it.” I instruct Jep. “You can give me ten more for whining like a little bitch.”
He grunts unhappily, but gets on with giving me another ten military presses. Chucking his towel next to him, I signal one of my other trainers to take over watching. I need to head to my office to ring Nate. The little shit’s late, which is unacceptable although not entirely unexpected, after the way I left things with him after my fight.
I’ve cooled down enough to realize that I might’ve overreacted. After questioning Jep about what Nate did to Gabbi, I feel like an asshole for basically accusing him of sexual assault. My history makes me a little sensitive in that department and prone to flying off the handle without asking questions first.
Which is probably something I should work on.
“Hooligan.”
Speak of the devil. I halt my journey toward my office, turning in the direction of my nephew’s cheerful voice. I end up frozen on the spot at the sight that greets me. My heart skips a beat, flip flopping like a stranded seal in my chest, when I run my eyes over the girl standing next to him.
Gabbi is here. In my gym. Wearing a pair of workout shorts that look like a second fucking skin and a sports bra. After gawking at the toned legs and arms that she has on display, I’m staring like a fool at the large tattoo that covers one half of her six-pack when Nate coughs to get my attention.
“Ah, hey, Nate.” My voice cracks, like I’m a boy in the first flush of puberty. Clearing my throat, I try again. “You’re late. Training started twenty minutes ago.”
“I had to wait for Gabbi to finish. If you’d checked your phone, you’d know that I sent you a message.”
Chancing another look in her direction, I’m surprised to find a small smile on her face.
“Gabbi,” I nod my head in greeting.
“Hooligan,” she repli
es. The sultry tones that I heard on Saturday night are still present, making me think that her come-fuck-me voice is her natural cadence. She sounds decidedly happier to see me than she did when she stormed out of the basement, which I guess is an improvement. “I’m sorry to bother you but I wanted to ask you a question.”
With a quick glimpse at Nate, I determine that I’m not going to like her query. “What can I do for you?”
Fidgeting on the spot for a moment, Gabbi squares her shoulders and hits me with a serious expression. Her eyes flash with defiance, anticipating my rejection before she’s made her request. “I want to fight. I need you to train me.”
“I—”
“I know you don’t train girls. Nate’s already told me. But, I want you to make an exception for me. My sensei says I’m a natural and he always wanted me to fight competitively.”
“Then get him to train you.”
Shaking my head, I take a step toward my office. Nate should’ve known better than to encourage her to come here. I don’t train girls for various reasons—the main one being that I don’t think they should fight. Full stop. End of discussion.
“I can’t. He’s dead,” she answers me in a smartass tone. Closing the distance between us, Gabbi places a small hand on my forearm. “Please. Just give me a try, I promise I’ll give you my all. You can call it quits if I’m not good enough.”
My skin burns where she’s touching me. It makes me want to rip my arm away from her and tell her to never touch me again or sweep her into my arms and kiss the living daylights out of her. One or the other—just don’t ask me which one.
The muscle in my jaw works as I grind my teeth and stare down at her hand where it rests so casually on my arm. One small touch and my cock has leapt to attention and is trying to leap out of my shorts and introduce himself to her. I watch her head tilt toward me and I feel her pleading eyes running a hot path over my face, weakening my resolve. “Please, Hooligan.”
I don’t know if it’s the breathy tone she uses to beg, her hand on my arm, or my stupid fucking cock that makes me come up with this hair-brain scheme, however I regret it the second I say it.
“I’ll train you...” Gabbi makes a small squeal of delight and Nate breaks into a broad grin. “If you can beat one of my boys tonight.”
‘Done.” She agrees with eager ease. Spinning on her heel, she faces Nate and points at him. “I’ll fight him.”
Knowing my nephew, and effortlessly gauging his desire for Gabbi, I’m not down with that plan. He’ll throw the fight, just so he can have her at the gym with him all the time.
Fuck. What have I got myself into? I can’t have her at my gym regularly. My cock’s having a hard enough time dealing with seeing her twice. Memories of blowing my load to her vision attack me, making me feel like a dirty old man. Gabbi’s nineteen, maybe twenty at the most, and I’m thirty-fucking-two and barring up like a bloody teenager around her. Nothing good will come from me training her to fight.
“Jep,” I yell across the vast space. “Come here.”
He’s not my best fighter, but he’s the most competitive. There’s no way he’ll throw a fight because he wants to get in her pants. I can count on him to put an end to this madness. Nate guesses my tactic and sends me a look of annoyance.
I feel bad but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
“Yeah, Hooligan.” He jogs over to us. Doing a double take when he spies Gabbi, his easy demeanor stiffens and he pulls out a lady-killer smile that he shoots in her direction. “Gabbi, fancy seeing you here. I was going to call you. Been busy, is all.”
Rolling her eyes at him, she laughs. It’s a taunting laugh, full of disbelief. “Sure you were.”
When Nate breaks into chuckles and joins her laughter, a smile crosses my face as well. Poor Jep hasn’t a clue why she’s here.
“Stop stressing. I’m not here to see you. I want Hooligan to train me.”
“Good luck with that,” Jep scoffs. “He doesn’t train girls.”
“He will once I’ve kicked your ass. That’s our deal.”
Jep bounces on the spot, then starts punching the air before letting loose a high kick followed by a vicious elbow jab. Nate and I roll our eyes at each other as we watch his display. Jep’s a natural born show-off.
Gabbi surprises me again. Instead of laughing or being intimidated, she steps back and watches him like a hawk with an air of assessment. When he finishes, she claps her hands and then puts two fingers in her mouth. A piercing whistle erupts from her and the guys in the gym stop what they’re doing to stare in our direction.
“Well done, Jep. Look at that everyone. He beat the oxygen right out of the atmosphere. What a talent.”
Jep turns to face her with his hands on his hips and his lips pressed together tightly when everyone laughs with her. She’s gotten under his skin...and I’d bet my left ball that’s what she was hoping to do.
“Yeah, laugh it up. I’m not gonna take it easy on you like Nate did. You’re a hottie but I don’t let chicks put me on my back no matter how much I wanna fuck them.”
Two red spots take up residence on Gabbi’s face, getting darker and spreading to her neck when she regards Nate for a second and finds the truth behind Jep’s words written all over him.
“Motherfucker,” she mutters before standing on her tiptoes and flicking his earlobe. “I should kick you in the nuts for that.”
He lifts his palms in surrender. “Hey, the first time was all you.”
A cheeky smile curls her ruby red lips and sends a new bolt of desire right to my cock. “Guess, I only have to kick you in one nut then.”
Her smartass comeback makes me laugh, hell, it makes everyone in the gym laugh. The guys are all looking like they’re a little in love with her; none of the usual animosity toward a woman being present in their domain is present. Every extra moment I spend around her is making my attraction to her ramp up another notch. She’s proving the right mix of sassy, sexy, and funny. And it’s wrong on so many levels. Her age. My age. The wife I still love. The son I’ll never forget.
I’ve screwed up by offering her a shot. I should have shot her down without discussion.
“Let’s do this.” I led them to the closest empty sparring ring. “Three, five-minute rounds. You can either win by points or submission. I’ll score.”
Gabbi cocks her head to the side and hits me with a pointed look. “I’d rather Nate did.”
Did she just call my integrity into account?
“I’ll score. Doesn’t matter how much I don’t want you here, if you win, I’ll honor our deal.” The words leave my mouth without thought as to how they’ll sound. I know that I don’t want her here because I can’t trust myself around the temptation she presents, but no one else knows that. Compounded by my rudeness on Saturday night, it sounds like I simply dislike her for no reason.
“Jesus, Hooligan. Fucking cut the asshole act for five minutes, would ya?” Nate pipes up. One look around me at the guys who’ve gathered to watch the fight tells me that they all agree. Some of my long-term clients are gaping at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“I didn’t mean it like—”
“Who cares how you meant it,” Gabbi interrupts my excuses. “I’m going to beat him and you’re going to train me. You don’t have to like me to do that.”
Nate makes quick work of wrapping her hands and then helping her put sparring gloves on. Once Jep’s ready, they climb into the ring and I follow. Jep has his game face on, staring at Gabbi with a cold contempt that has me half-wishing that I’d picked a different opponent for her. On the other hand, Gabbi doesn’t seem perturbed by him. She’s talking quietly with Nate, appearing at ease and ready to go.
“Touch gloves,” I command. They do as they’re told before stepping back from each other. “And. Fight.”
Jep doesn’t waste any time. He goes for the easy takedown, aiming at Gabbi’s waist and trying to wrestle her to the ground. It’s a good move, one that I don
’t expect her to be able to counteract. He easily outweighs her—almost by double, I’d guess.
What I didn’t count on, and neither did Jep by the looks of things, is Gabbi swinging onto his back and locking her right arm under his chin. Using her left arm for leverage and locking her legs tight around his waist, she pulls tight using a rear-naked choke that’s going to have him tapping out swiftly if he can’t find a way out of it.
He swings around wildly in an attempt to dislodge her. It’s ineffectual. Gabbi clings to him like a backpack. I know what I would do in this situation but I’m not sure if Jep has the killer instinct needed to do it to a girl. If I was him, I’d throw myself on my back and use my superior weight against her. There is little chance of her maintaining her chokehold while she deals with the weight of a fully-grown man crushing her.
“Yes.” Nate punches the air. “Choke him out, ninja girl.”
A feral growl can be heard coming from his best-friend in response to his cheering. Nate smiles at me when I glance his way, smug-satisfaction evident.
Gabbi must sink her hooks in deeper because Jep’s face starts to change color. With pure desperation showing in his expression, he throws himself on his back, trapping Gabbi between his body and the canvas.
I expect her to let go of him so she can tap out. The crazy girl doesn’t; instead she absorbs the impact without making a sound and sustains her tight hold. My pulse pounds in my ears as my desperation for Jep to win increases. All hope of succeeding at this stupid game I’m playing leaves me, when I witness Jep’s hand frantically tapping on the arm Gabbi has locked under his chin seconds before his eye’s roll back in his head. He succumbs to his lack of air supply and loses consciousness.
Brawl Page 9